Mayor Cherelle Parker to make major announcement on Philly school funding

Mayor Cherelle Parker is set to make a major announcement on Monday regarding funding for Philadelphia public schools.

Parker, along with Philadelphia School District Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington, will make the announcement at 2 p.m. at the Delaplaine McDaniel School on 1801 South 22^nd Street. You can watch it in the video embedded on top of this article.

The school district currently faces a $300 million budget gap. Officials warn that without action, the budget gap could lead to the loss of hundreds of school-based positions.

A city spokesperson wrote that Parker’s announcement on Monday will address funding aimed at protecting critical staff and support for the more than 198,000 Philadelphia public school students.

In January, the district unveiled a $2.8 billion master plan that called for the closure of 20 district-owned properties. Officials said 12 of those properties would be repurposed for the school district’s use while the remaining eight would be conveyed to the city to be used for workforce housing or job creation. Beyond the closures, the district would modernize nearly 160 of their facilities while continuing to maintain 122 others, under the plan.

In February, Dr. Watlington presented an amended version of the plan that called for the closure of 18 district-owned properties rather than 20.

“The development of this plan was rooted in partnership and a commitment to community engagement including 47 public listening sessions, 35 data verification sessions with principals, two District-wide surveys that received over a total of 13,000 responses,” noted Watlington in a statement. 

District officials have said that students at schools impacted by the changes in the proposal would be reassigned to other schools with comparable or better academic outcomes and comparable or better building conditions.

To fund the plan, the district would “commit $1 billion of its own resources and seek an additional $1.8 billion in public and philanthropic funding to fully realize this vision,” through a two-year capital borrowing cycle, according to Watlington.

Both the initial proposal and the most recent amended version drew criticism and protests from parents, community members and school district employees.

For more details on the proposal, including information on which schools are set for closure, check out the School District of Philadelphia’s website on the plan here.

To submit feedback on the plan anonymously, click here for the district’s Community Comment Box.